Nearly six years after police arrested Gene Harris and Ashton Gioustover in connection to the shooting death of Rodil Rodriguez, prosecutors dropped the second-degree murder charge Harris was facing and offered him a 7-year sentence, essentially guaranteeing his immediate release.

Harris and Gioustover are accused of barging into the Milan area home of nine immigrants -- eight adults and an infant child -- on the morning of Aug. 11, 2008. After breaking into the house and taking the occupants hostage, Harris shot Rodriguez once in the chest, killing him, police said.

The case has languished inside the Orleans Parish Criminal District courthouse since 2008, as Harris and Gioustover were arrested shortly after police say they committed the crimes.

Christopher Bowman, a spokesman for Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office, said that the long time lapse had damaged their case and that prosecutors had trouble locating witnesses.

"Time is the enemy of the prosecutor," Bowman said. "This is why we have to keep these cases moving-- this is why the criminal justice system needs to work to get these cases to trial quicker," he said.

Rodil RodriguezFamily photo

Gioustover, who is being tried separately, has yet to see his date in court. He was released last December under a law that guarantees defendants a speedy trial.

Article 701 of the Louisiana criminal code states: "..the trial of a defendant charged with a felony shall commence within one hundred twenty days if he is continued in custody and within one hundred eighty days if he is not continued in custody."

Harris, now 26, has been sitting in jail since his 2008 arrest, unable to make bond. Harris' attorney, Eric Hessler, argued last Wednesday that Harris, too, was eligible for a 701 release. Orleans Parish Judge Julian Parker ruled in his favor, but allowed prosecutors 48 hours to bring the case to trial.

Parker, who has since taken an extended medical leave, was not present Tuesday when prosecutors told retired judge Jerome Winsberg that not only were they ready to go to trial -- but they planned on amending Harris' second-degree charge to one of first-degree murder as well.

That never happened. About 45 minutes later, a deal had been hammered out.

Harris has been offered multiple deals throughout the years, all of which he has turned down, according to Hessler. But the one offered to him on Tuesday was considerably sweeter: Because Harris would be receiving credit for the time he has already served -- and because he has already served 85 percent of his sentence -- he would likely be released from jail within days to a week.

Harris pleaded guilty to the charge under an Alford plea, meaning he did not admit any wrongdoing but acknowledged that prosecutors would have had enough evidence for a jury to convict him.

Hessler said his client was happy with the outcome.

"He just wanted to get it over with," he said.

Family members of Rodriguez remembered their slain loved one as a vibrant, opportunity-starved man who was assigned to the parachute battalion when he served in the Honduran Army in 1987. After arriving in the United States he found work as a roofer in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.